Advisory Board for Siteminis IncorporateD

Larry Smith was employed at The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer and second largest retailer in the United States, from 1983 through 2002. For the first seventeen years of employment, Mr. Smith served as the company’s General Counsel. From 2000-2002, Mr. Smith was the Senior Vice President-Executive Services. Since 2002, Mr. Smith has been a partner in GreenSky Financial, a national capital and financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. that provides loans, lines of credit, and credit cards to businesses. In 2006, Mr. Smith was a founder of and now sits on the Board of Rockbridge Commercial Bank.

Mr. Smith is a 1969 graduate of the University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT and received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, NY in 1975. Mr. Smith is an active member of the community and serves on civic boards of Kennedy-Kreiger Foundation, the Marcus Foundation and Ian’s Friends Foundation. Mr. Smith has served on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees of the Devereux Foundation and is the chairman of the Devereux Georgia Advisory Board. The Devereux Foundation is the parent company of the Devereux Centers, which provides services for over 15,000 people with emotional, developmental and educational disabilities in facilities located in eleven states.

Mr. Gavin McCalla, a 1978 graduate from Georgia Tech has had a successful twenty-five year history as a designer, marketer and entrepreneur. 

In the 1980’s he founded and built a nationally recognized product and marketing development consulting firm, McCalla/Lackey Associates, with over $15 million in annualized sales

McCalla/Lackey worked with clients such as Hunter Fan Company, The Home Depot, Black and Decker, Singer, Sears, Wal-mart as well as many other U.S. consumer products manufacturers and retailers developing new products and branding to better compete in the U.S. retail market.  This included such products and brands as Hampton Bay Fan and Lighting (Home Depot 1984); Kenmore “Wizard” vacuum 1987; Ohio Forge (Home Depot 1985).
 
In 1992 Mr. McCalla sold his ownership in McCalla/Lackey to his partner.

In 1992 Mr. McCalla founded Ovation Group.  Ovation Group developed, marketed and sold over $100 million dollars in proprietary designed products utilizing infomercial/direct response marketing, traditional retail distribution, as well as catalogue and television shopping channels.  These products included Avion Ceiling Fans (K-mart Corp. 1992-1993) The Driver Light and Powered Driver Light (Sears/QVC 1994-1996); Lone Wolf Golf (Infomercial/Home Shopping International 1993-1995); Husky Torque Driver (Home Depot/Direct Response 1997); Whole Earth Garden Products (Home Depot 1998-2001); Orion Lighted Knives (Sears/Direct Response 1999-2000). Handle Max (Staples/QVC/Direct Response 1999).

In 1994 Mr. McCalla founded an in-store retail merchandising design and services business that worked exclusively within The Home Depot.  Creative Retail Services (CRS) worked under contract with companies such as Philips Lighting, Stanley, Duracell as well as many others to provide exclusive value added in-store services within The Home Depot. The company grew to  $30 million in annualized sales in a period of 8 years. Through its team of 750 employees operating in both the United States and Canada, CRS was responsible for driving and managing the sales and merchandising for over $750,000,000 in annual Home Depot retail product sales.
 
In 2002, Mr. McCalla sold Creative Retail Services to Huffy Service First, a division of the Huffy Corporation (NYSE Listed).

In 2003, Mr. McCalla sold Ovation Group to Test Rite Products Company (TRPC) of Ontario, CA and joined them as President and CEO.  Test Rite Products (TRPC) is a $300+ million in sales subsidiary of Test Rite International a trading company headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan.  TRPC sells and distributes a variety of hard line imported goods into various U.S. retail channels such as Wal-mart, Staples, Target. Sears, and The Home Depot.

Mr. McCalla initiated a strategy of brand licensing, private brand development and “up-market” positioning for this traditional low price importer of goods.  Negotiating branding licenses for such names as “Igloo”, “AC Delco” and “Mr. Goodwrench”, Mr. McCalla repositioned businesses from an “OPP” to “Mid-Level” price position into the markets in which those brands were to be distributed. (Outdoor Living and Tools/Automotive respectively).

Mr. McCalla also initiated development of new lines of products and markets that offered TRPC the potential for higher margins and stronger growth. These included decorative candles ($0-$40 million in two years under the private brand “Compass Home”) as well as high-end storage for the home ($10-$50 million in two years under the private brand “Home Zone”). 

Mr. McCalla retired from TRPC in January 2005 to pursue personal interests.

Shelley Nandkeolyar is President and CEO of Warren, PA, based Blair Corp a 99 year old catalog mail-order company (www.blair.com) that is now visioning a new future as a direct merchant that is increasingly seeing its fortunes take shape on-line. In addition to running Blair Corp. Shelley also oversees the WinterSilks (www.wintersilks.com) business and the eCommerce and Global Sourcing Strategy for its parent company - The Orchard Brands Group (www.orchardbrands.com ).

Prior to taking on his current assignment, Shelley was CEO for Norm Thompson Outfitters (an Orchard Brands Company) that has 4 catalog and eCommerce brands – Norm Thompson, Solutions, Sahalie and Gold Violin. Shelley has extensive general management and P& L experience building a reputation for starting up several profitable businesses during a career that spans North America. Before joining The Orchard Brands Group – Shelley was President Home Depot Direct Brands,  were he oversaw the development of the direct business and the start up of new catalog titles such as – The Home Depot Direct – Outdoor Living, 10 Crescent Lane and Paces Trading Company. During the time he was at The Home Depot the direct business grew in excess of 10x.

Shelley has had the privilege of being associated with several world class brands and business. Prior to joining The Home Depot, Shelley spent a year with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, righting her direct (catalog & on-line) business. Before that Shelley launched Williams-Sonoma Inc into the cyber-age with the development of Williams-Sonoma’s on-line bridal business, then followed the Williams-Sonoma’s online business (Oct 99), followed by Pottery Barn ( Aug 00) and Pottery Barn Kids (01) – making Williams-Sonoma the poster-child for the internet 1.0 era!

Shelley has over 25 years of experience in merchandising, marketing and business development and general management and during this time has had the opportunity to trace a career with the likes of Williams-Sonoma Inc, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Levi Strauss & Co. working on famed brands Levi’s and SilverTab. He has also worked with Ad Agency giants like DDB Needham (Porsche and Audi business), Leo Burnett ( Beatrice Foods business) SSCB Lintas ( Unilever, Smith Kline business) and cut his teeth at packaged good companies American Home Products and Procter & Gamble.

Mickey Alam Khan has more than 16 years' reporting and editing experience in marketing journalism. He was previously editor in chief of eMarketer, a publisher of online marketing research in New York.

Prior to that, he was editor in chief of DM News, a New York-based trade publication covering direct and interactive marketing. He also covered advertising agencies, interactive marketing campaigns, media and e-commerce on DM News and its iMarketing News sibling. He served on those media brands from 1999 to 2007.

From 1993 to 1998, he was a foreign correspondent for Advertising Age, an international newspaper of advertising, marketing and media.

Hairong Li, Ph.D.  Dr. Hairong Li is an Associate Professor of Advertising in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University and Editor of the Journal of Interactive Advertising, an official publication of the American Academy of Advertising. His research has explored a wide variety of issues of marketing communications, including user generated content, social networking media, mobile advertising and research, online consumer behavior, presence and virtual affordances, virtual experience, and the effects of interactive advertising. He has published over 100 articles, book chapters and conference papers. He has been rated as a highly productive scholar in advertising, communication, and marketing in recent three citation studies (Choi and Khang 2006, Ford and Merchant 2008, Kim and McMillan 2008). He serves on the editorial broad for three academic journals and one trade magazine in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He has been interviewed and quoted on interactive advertising and e‑commerce issues in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other news publications. Dr. Li holds a Ph.D. in Mass Media/Advertising from Michigan State University and Masters and Bachelors degrees from Renmin University in China. In addition, Dr. Li was a Fulbright Scholar at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and chair of the Publications Committee of the American Academy of Advertising.

Mike Stevens
Vice President Projects & Procurement
Hospitality Ventures, LLC
During the past two decades, Mike has supervised and overseen hotel purchasing, design and project management for 27 “new construction” hotels with a total asset value of $216,000,000.  In addition, he has provided the same expertise and services for 176 hotel “complete” renovations, totaling $880,000,000 in value. Mike’s geographic boundaries of projects range from Maine to Oregon, San Diego to the Florida Keys and practically every state in between.  In total, Mike has provided expertise, management and services in over 41 states. Mike is a “hands-on” professional averaging 42-46 weeks of annual travel. Mike began his career in the hospitality industry by running his own purchasing / design / installation company in central Florida. His success led him to holding prestigious positions with IDC Construction, Impac Hotel Group and Lodgian, Inc. At IDC, Mike was president of their procurement division and vice president of their construction division. At Impac Hotel Group, Mike served in all capacities with major emphasis in multi-unit project management.  He was corporate director of capital expenditures & purchasing for Lodgian, Inc. Mike is based out of Hospitality Ventures’ corporate office in Atlanta, Georgia. Mike is also principal of HC Supply- a commercial industry supply company.

Herb Romig | Vice President of Merchandising – Edgenet
Herb Romig, a seasoned merchandising manager, brings over 25 years of retail, management and  leadership experience to Edgenet. As vice president of merchandising, he is responsible for creating and managing the consumer experience across retail and media channels. Romig spent the last 15 years at The Home Depot where he held a number of key merchandising positions, including senior merchandising roles with Home Depot Direct, the DIY giant’s online division. 

Romig began his career in the Engineering sector of R&D with Weyerhaeuser, where he served for 10 years in various management positions.

He holds a B.A. in Agricultural Engineering and Business Management from the University of Georgia

Praveen Chopra | CIO Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Praveen Chopra currently serves as VP, Chief Information Officer and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. In this capacity Mr. Chopra is responsible for creating vision, setting strategic direction and driving operational excellence while providing the best health care to children. Chopra is a C-Level change leader and innovative thinker with broad-based expertise in information and technology, supply chain, merchandising and business development across multiple industry verticals. Chopra has demonstrated a proven ability to quickly understand key business drivers, and develop strategies to deliver tangible results. Chopra is purpose driven, high energy executive known for ability to envision and create successful outcomes in complex situations.
Areas of excellence include:

1. Strategic planning, relationship building, operational excellence and P&L management
2. Business process improvement, utilizing a mix of Six-Sigma, TQM, JIT and Lean disciplines
3. Supply chain design, cutting-edge process development, and technology assessment
4. Enterprise information systems and technology architecture, large scale deployment and merger integration
5. Logistics, replenishment, sourcing, inventory control, merchandising and quality assurance
6. Best practice analysis, channel strategy development, and service optimization
7. Alliance building, vendor management and contract negotiation
8. Team building and organizational change management

Center for Leadership, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

APICS Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) and Basics in Supply Chain Management (BSCM)

Dominic Carubba
My study of organizational performance began when I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where teamwork is critical to every mission. When I made the transition back to civilian life and entered a sales and marketing career, the dynamics changed, but I never lost sight of how we achieve our goals as individuals and as part of a team. In another turn as a stand-up comedian, I really became motivated to learn what makes groups tick – and laugh – but moreover what would get their attention and keep them engaged.

Today I apply that knowledge in a variety of settings and organizations including corporate sales teams, large association groups and one-on-one coaching environments with individuals who want to take their performance to the next level. Most often, these engagements deal with the process of change management, implementing a new process or system and aligning a group or department with a new corporate strategy.  The bottom line is that we link results with vision.

As a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT), I have demonstrated competency in the application of proven principles of performance improvement as determined by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). My degree from the University of Georgia in 2005 was a one of a kind degree consisting solely of Masters Level courses in Adult Education, Educational Psychology, Occupational Studies and Instructional Design.

What this means is that I have studied the most successful methodologies and continue to learn how people thrive in life and business.